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Coal Shipments Rise and Prices Drop – What It Means for Investors (Part 1 of 3) The EIA’s coal production estimates
Every week, the EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration) publishes shipments based on coal railcar loadings. Coal is an important commodity for railroad companies—like Union Pacific (UNP) and CSX (CSX). However, coal’s importance is decreasing due to the emergence of shale oil. It’s also decreasing because of competition from other commodities.
Coal producers mine coal on demand. As a result, the EIA’s shipment estimates mirror production. Shipments are a function of demand and other factors—like rail underperformance and competition from other commodities. The report is published with a one-week lag. The current report is for the week ending March 27.
Coal shipments rise
According to EIA estimates, during the week ending March 27, US coal shipments increased marginally to 18.27 million tons—compared to 18.18 million tons during the week ending March 20. Out of the total shipments, 7.60 million tons were recorded in the East while the remaining 10.67 million tons was recorded in the West.
Impact on producers
Weekly coal shipment data can be misleading. It can be distorted by factors like unavailability of railcars, bad weather, and supply issues—apart from genuine demand-side issues. A sustained increase or decrease in coal shipments over a few weeks—compared to the previous year—is a positive or negative indicator for coal producers (KOL) like Peabody Energy (BTU), Alliance Resource Partners (ARLP), Arch Coal (ACI), and Cloud Peak Energy (CLD).
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Alpha Natural Resources Inc.
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CODE : ANR |
ISIN : US02076X1028 |
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ProfileMarket IndicatorsVALUE : Projects & res.Press releasesAnnual reportRISK : Asset profileContact Cpy |
Alpha Natural Res. is a producing company based in United states of america. Alpha Natural Res. is listed in Germany and in United States of America. Its market capitalisation is US$ 580.6 millions as of today (€ 502.5 millions). Its stock quote reached its highest recent level on July 25, 2008 at US$ 99.92, and its lowest recent point on February 19, 2021 at US$ 0.02. Alpha Natural Res. has 49 410 000 shares outstanding. |